North Korean troops are ‘on the way to Ukraine’

Kyiv’s envoy to the UN expects them to begin ­join combat operations against Ukrainian ­forces this month.

Lloyd Austin says the North Korean deployment could prompt other nations to get more directly involved in the Ukraine war. Picture: AFP

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said overnight on Wednesday that North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment were moving towards Ukraine, in what he called a dangerous and destabilising development.

Mr Austin was speaking at a press conference in Washington with South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, as concerns grow about Pyongyang’s deployment of as many as 12,000 troops to Russia.

The US and South Korea say some of the North Korean troops are heading to Russia’s Kursk region on the border with Ukraine, where the Kremlin’s forces have struggled to push back a Ukrainian incursion. Some North Korean advance units had already arrived in the Kursk region, and Mr Austin said “the likelihood is pretty high” that Russia would use the troops in combat.

North Korea’s move to tighten its relationship with Russia has triggered alarms across the globe, as leaders worry about how it may expand the war in Ukraine and what Russian military aid will be delivered to Pyongyang in exchange.

Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, speaking at an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday, said they expected as many as 4500 North Korean troops to be at the border this week and to begin ­directly participating in combat operations against Ukrainian ­forces this month.

Mr Austin said officials are discussing what to do about the deployment, which he said had the potential to broaden or lengthen the conflict in Ukraine. Asked if it could prompt other nations to get more directly involved in the conflict, he acknowledged that it could “encourage others to take action” but provided no details.

“This is something that we’re going to continue to watch, and we’re going to continue to work with our allies and partners to discourage Russia from employing these troops in combat,” he said.

Mr Kim said he did not necessarily believe the deployment would trigger war on the Korean Peninsula, but it could increase security threats.

There was a “high possibility” that Pyongyang would ask for higher technologies in exchange for its troops, such as receiving tactical nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, he said.

Both Mr Kim and Mr Austin called on North Korea to withdraw its troops.

Russia has had to shift some resources to the Kursk border ­region to respond to Ukraine’s ­offensive. US leaders have suggested that the use of North Korean forces to augment Russia’s defences indicates that Moscow’s losses during the more than two-year war have significantly degraded its military strength.

“They’re doing this because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has lost a lot of troops,” Mr Austin said, adding that Moscow had a choice between mobilising more of its own forces or turning to others for help.

Already, he noted, Russia had sought military weapons from other nations – including North Korea and Iran.

The US has estimated there are about 10,000 North Korean troops now in Russia. But others have put the number higher. And Mr Kyslytsya provided an array of more specific numbers and details to the UN Security Council.

The Ukrainian ambassador said up to 12,000 North Koreans were being trained at five bases in eastern Russia, including at least 500 officers and three generals.

In addition to the troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian small arms, Mr Kyslytsya said they would be provided with Russian identity documents, “notably to conceal their presence”. He said they were expected to be integrated into units manned by Russia’s ethnic Asian minorities, including Buryats.

North Korea’s UN envoy, Kim Song, defended his country’s growing military co-operation with Russia and said Pyongyang stood ready to respond if Russia’s “sovereignty and security interests” were threatened.

A Ukrainian official told The Associated Press that North ­Korean troops were stationed 50km away from the Ukrainian border with Russia.

North Korea also has provided munitions to Russia, and earlier this month the White House released images it said were of North Korea shipping 1000 containers of military equipment there by rail. A key question is what North Korea will get in return for providing the troops.

AP